The Beginning of Forever

Summary:
What if Bella had went back to Phoenix after Edward left her? What if Laurent had found her and Jake and the other wolves weren’t around to protect her? My version of New Moon. Picks up after Edward and the rest of the Cullens leave Forks. R & R!

Notes:
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of it's characters. All credit goes to Stephanie Meyer.

2. Old Acquaintances

I looked up, surprised. Who else would wondering around a burnt out ballet studio in the middle of the night?

As I stood up and started forward to investigate, he came around the corner. He was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen.

“Laurent!” I exclaimed hoarsely. I probably hadn’t spoken a single word for at least a week.

“Bella? Is that you?” Laurent asked, sounding confused. “It is! What in the world are you doing here?”

“I live here now,” I replied. “Well, not here here,” I rammbled, gesturing around the studio, “but here in Phoenix.“ I knew I was babbling, but I couldn’t believe that there was actually a vampire standing in front of me. It made me feel so much better knowing that I wasn’t crazy after all, that I hadn’t made everything up. If Laurent really existed, then that meant that he really was out there...somewhere..

“Oh really?” he asked intrigued. “What about the Cullens. I thought you were something of their...pet.”

I retracted slightly. Not just because I heard their name, but because something in my gut told me not to tell Laurent that the....Cullens... had left me. That he shouldn’t know that I was here, all alone. “Oh, their around,” I lied. “They’re out on a hunting trip right now. They should be back soon. I just went for a walk, you know to fill time.”

“Hm..”he answered, not looking very convinced. I was a horrible liar. “What a coincidence. I happen to be on a hunting trip of my own.”

At that moment, I felt a twinge of fear, something that I haven‘t felt in a very long time. I remembered what Laurent hunted. He wasn’t vegetarian like the Cullens were. And at the moment, I was the only appetizing thing around. Oh, this could not end well.

“Uh yeah, that is a coincidence isn‘t it. Well, I’d better get going. Edward,” I forced his name out and it felted like razor blades in my throat. I would pay for that one later..if there was a later. “Edward is waiting for me. And you probably remember that he isn’t very patient.”

As I took a tentative step back, Laurent took two very big steps toward me. He was only a few feet away from me now. I definitely didn’t like the new closeness.

“Why so soon? We have so much catching up to do. And what a perfect place to do it in. The place where your little family killed James. Where you almost died, if I’m not mistaken. Again, I must say, what a coincidence.” He smiled an evil smile.

This was all too familiar. It was James all over again. Only this time, I didn’t have any hope that I would be saved. The Cullens were somewhere out there, I was sure of that now. But they were out there without a clue as to what was happening to me. Would they care if they knew? Would Alice have seen this coming? No, I was sure that Edward would have made sure she didn’t look for my future.

It will be as if I’d never existed. That’s what he had promised me. How naive it was of me to think that with him gone, the bad vampires would disappear, too.

“Why so quiet, dear Bella?” Laurent asked. I could hear the venom slowly creeping into his voice. He was getting sick of the pleasantries. I looked to his eyes. They were pitch black. He took another step closer. Not good.

He took in a deep breath. “Ah,” he sighed, closing his eyes. He was smelling me. “Edward definitely let you go to waste. You smell absolutely delectable.” He opened his eyes, and they had gotten even blacker. “You see, Bella, I haven’t fed in so long. After I left Denali, I ran into Victoria. And ever since then, I haven’t had much time to do much else except for the tracking expedition she sent me out on.”

I couldn’t help myself. “What tracking expedition?” I was slowly backing away, even though I knew that with his advanced sight, Laurent could see my every move. I was trying to buy more time. Maybe, if I got close enough to the door to get outside, and I was in front of witnesses, it would stop him. I doubted it, but it was worth a shot.

“Yes. You see, after your Edward killed her James, she was not very....happy to say the least. So, when I ran into her, and found out that she was tracking you, I made a deal with her; I would help her find you, as long as I got a little.... taste before she finished you off.”

I froze. Victoria had been tracking me? But why. I wasn’t the one who killed James. Edward was. I voiced my question to Laurent. “Ah you see, innocent Bella, Victoria doesn’t want to just kill Edward. It would be too easy for him. Instead, she wants him to feel what she has felt over the past several months; the pain of losing your mate. It is not something that our kind takes to very well. And she knows that after he finds you dead, he will come after her. A better fight than if she just went straight for Edward himself.”

During this conversation, I had still been moving slowly backwards. I was almost to the door when I tripped over a fallen support beam. This seemed to bring Laurent back to the present, back to the fact that he was thirsty, and I was his next meal.

Laurent walked over to where I was laying and knelt over me. I could tell that this was the end. I did the only thing I could think of to do. I begged.

“Laurent, please...please don’t-don’t do this I-,” he silenced me by putting a cold finger on my lips. I recoiled. Somehow, his skin felt colder than Edward’s, and not in a good way.

“Shh, shh Bella. I promise it will be quick. You should be happy that it is me and not Victoria. If you only knew what she wanted to do to you...well let us just say that you would be very happy that it was I who found you first.”

Edward. I could think about him now, right? I didn’t have to worry about breaking down later, because there wasn’t going to be a later. So I thought about him.

I thought about his eyes, how beautiful they were. Like melted honey. I thought about his voice....oh his voice. It was the most amazing sound that I had ever heard in my life. Then there was his smell. That intoxicating smell that I couldn’t get enough of no matter how many times I smelled him. And lastly I thought about his lips. How his lips felt pressed up against mine; cold and hard yet warm and soft at the same time.

And for once, I didn’t feel the hole in my chest start to burn, the way that it usually did when I thought of Edward. Maybe it was because my body knew that I was about to die. My heart knew that it didn’t have many beats left. I was glad, happy even. I wanted my last thoughts to be about him, and I knew that I was about to be in enough pain without adding anything else on top of it.

As Laurent leaned down towards my neck, I closed my eyes. Behind the black of my lids, I could see Edward’s face perfectly. I love you, Edward, was my last thought before I felt the sharp, burning pain.